McAllen ISDysfunctionality
I think the story about the McAllen ISD’s Department of Communications and Marketing, AKA, the Animal House, has about run its course. Now it’s time to vote on your candidate of choice once early voting begins Monday, April 24th.
If you’re bored and have some free time on your hands, please check out my podcasts (the Gregg Wendorf Podcast) at anjournal.com to get an inside glimpse of some serious former dysfunctionality, my opinion, both inside the department in particular, and the school district in general.
The department has once again been set on the straight and narrow with the naming earlier this year of Mark May as the new director. As mentioned in the podcasts, May should have had the job in the first place before the district pulled a fast one and changed the job qualification to include a master’s degree, which obviously carried more weight in the mind of the superintendent, J.A. Gonzalez, than did the approximate 20 years May already had on the job, serving for decades as the assistant to the former director.
Meaning, a Master’s Degree, which usually takes two to three years to earn, is worth more than approximately 20 years on the job?
Makes sense only if one is mentally challenged, and who really knows who came up with the bright idea of a Master’s Degree requirement.
That job-qualification change kicked May out of the running to replace Zamora Guerra and opened the position up to Board President Tony Forina’s good friend and former business partner Jake Berry, who was working at the time as the district’s webmaster.
The once straight-laced department went downhill from there if the allegations since made against it are true. We already know that the sex vids found on a school laptop are true, so there’s no reason to believe that the other complaints, filed by the department’s former assistant director, are not based on facts.
The Anonymous Poster
This week, one of those anonymous social-media posters we all run across online showed up to throw dirt at The Advance, The Monitor, and the former assistant director of the Communications Department who filed a complaint against Berry and Tony Forina, the current board president who is running for re-election against former Trustee Erica de la Garza-Lopez.
When it comes to people too afraid to post their real name on a post, hiding behind a fictitious name or brand, it’s funny that they almost always include the word “Truth” in their label. If it’s true, then why not post your real name?
In this case, the anonymous poster wrote that the stories about McAllen ISD’s so-called scandal published by The Monitor were biased in favor of the former assistant director (the complainant), when I thought the stories were as fair as they could be. The reporter interviewed anyone willing to comment, giving both Forina and Berry ample space to tell their sides of the story and refute the accusations made against them by the former assistant director.
The anonymous poster also wrote, “Everyone knows The Advance is paid off by Vela.”
As most people who read local news already know, Vela would be Danny Vela, the four-term McAllen ISD board trustee who is not running for re-election this time around.
Smart move. I’m thinking, if The Advance has been paid off, where is the money?
As opposed to any financial gain, I just can’t stand to see an injustice, and then stand by in silence as Tony and Berry say that this entire so-called scandal is centered around politics. Please. Writing about that, I’ll gladly do for free, which is really the reason for publishing a newspaper in the first place: “To comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.”
Speaking of bias, the anonymous poster wrote: “Forina is likely the most honest and genuine board member at McAllen ISD.”
Personally, I’ll admit, Forina is a likeable guy, but that doesn’t necessarily equate to being a good board member, and if the anonymous poster hates to see bias disguised as facts, he or she needs to take a lesson, because that’s exactly what he or she is doing.
The anon poster then goes on to excoriate Vela and his family without any facts to back up the allegations being tossed about. Just pure vile, unadulterated BS that would be considered Libel if not for the fed rules that allow such a thing if posted online (Section 230 — no platform on which a lie is posted — in this case, The Monitor’s Facebook page – can be held liable for libelous content). The Monitor later deleted the post in its entirety, but retained a link to the loser’s site, which had about two people following his FB page – big audience.
Voters will decide the future of McAllen ISD when this election comes to an end May 6, the last day to vote. Do they want the district to remain on its present course, or usher in a new change?
For the dregs of society out there who won’t affix their real name to lies, serious allegations, there are doctors and drugs that can improve your situation in life. You don’t need to still live in your parents’ guest bedroom eating Twinkies all day, alternating posting lies and watching porn, in between trips to the restroom to relieve yourself.
There is help available.